Down To The Last Piece
by misledforevr
Summary: The Republic is built, Lyra has finished her studies, and there is only one more thing. Did Will throw away ALL the pieces of the knife? r&r PLZ
1. Tears Shed

** DISCLAIMER: I dont own any of Philip Pullmans amazing characters... he does** **oh yea and please if u have time R&R... on with the show** Lyra pulled up a chair at the large dining hall of St. Sophia's next to Margaret. It was her final year at that damn place, she thought. Lyra had been spending a year and a half doing intensive studying on the alethometer. Dame Hannah had been thouroughly suprised with Lyras amazing progress. The reading of the alethiometer would take most young women a lifetime to grasp, while Lyra had been able to do it in two years. And she didnt slack off either.  
She eat, drank and breathed the alethiometer. She wouldnt stop studying it, and Pan would always check that it was by her side . Her determination to learn had not only given her a clear advantage, it also gave her an awful rep that restricted her social life. Well actually. Margaret was her only friend. And the only reason Margaret hanged around Lyra was because she herself was a loser. And losers must stick together, as her saying goes.  
But Lyra didnt care. Didnt care that all the girls walked a little faster when they saw her in the hall. Or when they spread evil rumours about her family, not that she had family anymore. The girls at St. Sophia's were vicious. They didnt understand anything that happened outside their little perfect lives of makeup, clothes and boys. Their biggest worry was their final grade for that year. Meanwhile, Lyra had a destiny, and she had been through more things than what most people would go through in two lifetimes.  
Lyra and Pan stared down at her breakfast of porridge. It was so bland, no color, no life. With a sickening feeling she realized the comparison of this bunch of oats and water with her current life. It was pointless, the Republic was finished, her study almost finished, and what would she do after that? She picked up a slightly-dull-from-all-its-use spoon, and dug into her meal.  
"Do you KNOW what happened yesterday when I went into the market for lunch?" Margret chirped eager for conversation. Not waiting for a reply from Lyra she rambled on, " Alright, so i was getting some apples 'cause i was soooo hungry... i was looking through them and i finally found the perfect one so i looked up to buy it and there was this BEYOND cute boy staring at me. We talked for a bit and.... ahhh i think im in love!" She finished with a dazed out look in her eyes.  
"HA!" Lyra exploded, suprised at the sound of her own voice.  
"Whats so funny? Well? What?"  
"Nothing ..." Lyra murmured. In love. These girls dont even know what puppy love is. Pan rolled his eyes dramatically. Then she remembered Will. She hadnt been thinking about him much lately with her examinations getting close. But whenever she did, her heart felt ripped out from pain. The one thing she longed for, with all her heart, had left through a window two years ago. A simple tear ran down her cheek, then another came appearing to be racing with the first. Lyra got up from the table with Pan in her arms, murmered a "im not hungry" and set off running to her dorm.  
***  
Will sat at the small table in the middle of the kitchen facing Mary. His face told the story of his life. Instead of the normal youthful skin that a young man his age was expected to have, his skin was tough and almost raw. It had undergone so many adventures that it was tierd, and it was clearly apparent on Wills face. His mouth was small and blended well with his skin, as if it did no longer have the urge to be reconized, used even, after his last kiss with Lyra. His sharp eyes were what set many peoples senses ablaze. They had a fierce look to them, many eyes like this could have belonged to a warrior. The depth of his eyes reminded Mary of the stories she was told of the abyss that Lyra's parents were thrown into, deep and bottomless, full of unknown emotions and feelings. Over all Will was quite a handsome young man, but many did not see that, for he was odd. He did not have friends, and rarely attended school. But when he did he only sat in the back and watched, as if entertained by the passing of knowledge between teacher and students, but never looked as if he was meaning to learn. In reality, he was there to learn, and he did wish that he could attend more often, but with all the work that he had with The Republic, he had only time for few lessons. He felt withdrawn from the world, and he would spend most days curled up into bed crying. Crying from his heart, for his heart. He felt it was the only way he could cope with his numerous losses.  
When Will and Mary returned to their Oxford, they found the old lady that took in his mother. She said that her mother had a fercious fit one day and threw herself down the stairs, and she died of heart complications. Will's only real reason for leaving his love, Lyra, was gone. And he had regretted it everyday since.  
Mary stared across the table at Will, with a furrowed brow. She had been increasingly concerned with Will over the last couple of months, he had seemed so withdrawn from life. She cried at night for him. Her face also told a story, a story that was soon comming to a conclusion, for her purpose was done. She didnt want to tell Will yet, but she knew the time was comming soon, too soon. 


	2. Glint of Light

**DISCLAIMER: unfortunatley i do not own any of these characters, philip pullman does... lucky guy....** **Authors note: Roxy Surfer- Thank you sooo much for the suport! I did get ur other one... u'll just have to wait ;) and i did repost because i forgot the disclaimer * whoops * Thanks again! Blitz Blazer- Yeah i have heard about it, i think its going to be called the Book Of Dust and im really looking forward to it, thank you that really means a lot to me ( keep reading**  
  
Mary slowly slid her hand across the table towards Will. Will lifted his eyes slowly from his toast to Mary. "Will..." She murmured. "Yes?" "Will, you know... I'll... I'll always love you... and you are like the son i never had... and i would die for you if need be... and..." She rambled on, unwilling to control the emotions flowing out of her like a waterfall. " I love you too." Will met her eyes and gave his small but secure smile that Mary loved. Mary sighed, she definatley couldnt tell him now, he was too happy she didnt want to shatter that thought when she told him... the happiness in his eyes would wisp away into the wind along with everything else he cherished if she did. "Well... I hope you have a good day at school." They both stood up at the same time and inched toward each other cautiously. " I hope you have a good day too." He said, taking a couple steps toward her. Then they embraced in a very akward, but loving hug. Will said I'll see you at three and walked out the door.  
Mary was left in the middle of her kitchen, wondering if she would ever tell him.  
** Dame Hannah had watched the whole event from the teachers table, eating her porridge. She had brought Lyra Silvertongue into her college two years ago, in hopes that she would blossom into a wonderful young lady and try to forget the past and move forward. And she had been constantly concerned that Lyra had become steadily worse. She was a wonderful scholar, the Dame had to admit, but she had no passion left, no longing for life. Dame Hannah excused herself from the table and gracefully stood up, intending to go to Lyra's dorm.  
She walked up the small, narrow steps leading the way to Lyra. When she finally reached a door she knocked twice. A muffled sob was all that could be heard through the wooden door. "Lyra, its Dame Hannah... I was wondering if we could talk." A sound of concern was certain in her voice, even to Lyra's ears. Lyra decided to collect herself and open the door.  
"Thank you, darling." Dame Hannah looked around the room, expecting to see Pan, Lyra's deamon somewhere. He was nowhere to be found. She thought this rather peculiar. In truth he was making his way down the the botanic gardens, for he longed for Will as well. Nevertheless, she continued, " Please tell me what is wrong? Did you get in a row with Margaret?" Lyra shook her head, she couldnt waste her energy on a verbal answer or else she would burst out infront of the Dame. Lyra didnt want anyone seeing her at her weakest moment, she tried to look strong. "Whats wrong then?" Lyra couldnt stand it anymore, she would have to tell someone, someday... She whispered, " oh... its so terrible..." "What is darling?" Lyra took a deep breath. And then she burst out in tears, admist all those tears she cried out, " I'm in love!" She pulled a pillow from her bed and sobbed. Dame Hannah was quite taken aback by this response. Quite surely a fifteen year old girl could not possibly be in love. But she then relized that this wasnt just some fifteen year old girl. Dame Hannah did not talk, merely listened as the young woman told her the story of her only love.  
**  
Will shuffled his feet across the sidewalk as he made his way to school. Dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time. He found everytime he went, it was becoming harder to shut out the teasing.  
He walked for a bit, wondering why Mary was acting so peculiar. He knew that she had something to tell him, it had be haunting his dreams for days, but he didnt want to coax it out of her. He just had to wait. I hate waiting, he thought. He seemed to be hating a lot of things lately. Life in general.  
He walked by the botanic gardens, deciding to take a detour. He walked into the heaven of shrubery and by a forest of rose bushes, not stopping to fully absorb the elgant design. He had one destination, but he did not know it yet, for his brain was not leading him there, rather his heart.  
He walked past countless types of flowers until a small bench was in sight.  
** Pan was being as sly as he could, for it was literally impossible for people to be seperate from their deamons, only witches can. He crept along the Botanic Gardens, finding it odd that next to no one was there. Finally he found small wooden bench only about 10 feet away. He continued towards it.  
**  
Will sat down on the bench, closing his eyes. He was recalling the day that he left Lyra, this exact place. Oh how he longed for her... wanted to smell her hair, look at her face, kiss her lips. He remembered the blissed fruit.  
**  
Pan sat down in the exact same place on the bench as Will was, and at that moment he felt a surge of joy. He was connected to Will and his deamon. The hairs on Pan stood on end from excitement. Five miles away, in Lyra's dorm, Lyra suddenly smiled. Dame Hannah was utterly confused at this point and waited for Lyra to explain her sudden change of mood. But no answer came from Lyra, all she did was stand up and peered out the window, smiling as she had never smiled before.  
**  
Will almost jumped from the emotion that lept inside him. Lyra is near he thought. He was about to get up to look for her, but he then realized, she is here, but in another world. He made himself comfortable on the bench, and basked in the feeling of love, somewhat the way that people enjoy being overwhelmed with sun on a beach.  
Then something caught his eye in the grass about three feet infront of him. He didnt really want to move, as if plastered to the bench, but he felt something pulling him to the piece of metal. He slowly rised, evidently annoyed that he had be taken away from his haven, and limbered over to the shiny substance. He slowly picked it up and held it in his hand, and gasped at it.  
It was the tip of the subtle knife. 


	3. Beyond the Glass Wall

** disclaimer: dont own characters** **A/N: thank you soooooooooo much to everyone who R/R! It meant the world to me. Just for that heres the next chappy. Hope you like it! Please review with suggestions/ comments ( ** Lyra turned to Dame Hannah. "You know what, i feel a lot better. Thank you very much Dame." She chimed. She then turned and skipped out of the room and down the stairs. Dame Hannah had a look of utter confusion written all over her delicatley aged face. In all her years of running her college she had never had the chance to encounter such a bizzare young lady. She shook her head and walked out of the Lyra's dorm, delicatley shutting the door behind her with a click.  
Lyra's heart was pounding a mile a minute. Her head was throbbing with ideas and possiblities of why and how this had happened. Deep down she knew, but she didnt want to set herself up for a dismal let down. She couldnt take one more of those. So she covered it up with such inferior excuses as maybe Pan got frightened by a human. No... I would have felt frightened not loved. She finally settled on Pan day dreaming about Will, and set off to the days tasks.  
  
** Will held the shard of metal in his hand, examining his long lost friend. Engulfed by Lyras love, he ran his index finger over the metal. His hand stopped with a jolt. How can i feel Lyra? I'm not on the bench anymore he thought, bewildered. Maybe she is standing in the same place as I. He decided to move across to the rose bush as an experiment. He could still feel her. As if she was following him. Then as if by fate, he fumbled and dropped the small piece of metal into the vibrant green grass.  
Suddenly he didnt feel Lyra there anymore. Depression covered him as if taking a black body sack and putting him inside. He felt almost dead without her love. He stared down at the subtle knife's tip. What was going on?  
  
** Kyriaa bounded through the grass, feeling amazing. She and Will had collectivley decided to take a break from each other for the week, and she decided to explore her own backyard, literally. She had slept among the stars at night, reliving in her dreams the adventures her and Will had been through, even more the adventures that her and her beloved Pan had seen. She spent her days frolicing in the grass, always close to Will, yet a thousand miles away. She looked towards Mary's flat. Through the glass door she saw Mary preparing a simple sandwich for lunch. Kyriaa sighed with love for her.  
Lately Mary had seemed like more and more of a mother figure to Will, and Kyriaa wouldnt of had it any other way. Mary stayed at home during the day, working long hours to make the Republic, staying far away from anyone from her past profession and took care of Will as if he was her own. Kyriaa hopped a bit closer to the window, facinated by the movement and sureness of Mary's hands as she sliced thin bits of tomato. Kyriaa's eyes opened wider, something was happening. She moved closer, her nose touching the glass. Suddenly Kyriaa was scratching at the door, desperate to find a way in. She had to help Mary, what was happening to her?... she didnt understand. Kyriaa started wailing desperatley. But all she could do was watch from behind the glass....  
  
** Will felt Kyriaa's cry. He shoved the subtle knife in his pocket and ran out of the gardens. He ran by an old lady, nearly knocking her over, but he didnt even notice where he was going. He was finding Kyriaa. A couple of minutes later he found himself trying to dislodge the front door of his flat. It wouldnt budge. Mary had been planning to get a locksmith to come and look at it. But she was busy, so busy with the Republic. He turned and ran around the side of the house. Fumbled with the latch to the backyard, and bursted through running towards the glass door.  
He found the glass door indented with deep claw marks of desperation. And Kyriaa, on the ground in hysterics. His breathing quicked as he looked through the glass. He tripped and fell on the grass, never taking his eyes off what was beyond the glass door. ** DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN oooh cliffhanger. Bwhaha. Sry guys this was a shorter one... i'll post another hopefully next week :p. Remember R/R!! ** 


	4. The Point of No Return

**dont own it, just write it. Author(ess? Whats the female equivalent to author... or is there?) notes: Oh my goooodness i am ammmazzzinnnggglllyyyy regretting the fact that i havent updated in like a century and a half! I just didnt know how i was gonna write this one... srry for such the AMAZINGLY long wait, ive uhhh... well sumthing good happened to me and i got caught up in it all. But thanks so MUCH to everyone that posted, you guys are the reason i keep going (slowly but surely ;) ) now on with the showww**  
  
Lyra sat in the small wooden chair up against a large desk in her classroom. Her teacher, Mr.Plumber went out of the room for a minute, needing to use the restroom. As soon as he left, her back became slouched and she started fiddling with her nails, refusing herself any more work for the time being. If Mr.Plumber could have a break, why couldn't she? Her eyes slowly shifted from her nails onto the Alethiometer shining on the far right corner of her desk.  
For the first time in what felt like forever, Lyra felt the Alethiometer wanting her to ask it a question. But what question was still to be determined. Although Lyra had been taught all there was to know about how to read the Alethiometer, she could not be taught how to read what it wanted her to do. That was beyond any teachers capability, and they could only hope that with enough practice Lyra would regain that intuition.  
Her eyes were permanently fixed on the contraption, and her mind was challenging it to tell her what to do, to give her some indication of what she was to ask. Pan leapt up on the desk and gave it a playful kick as if to say "come ON!" No such luck.  
The door opened as Mr.Plumber's large figure walked through. Lyra sighed, straightened up, and turned back to her work, hoping that she could later find out what it was she had to do. ***  
Will regained his senses and stood from the grass, beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. He tried the glass door one last time, but the handle didnt budge. Will picked up the garden gnome sitting near the wall and smashed through the door and ran to Mary sprawled out on the ground.  
Kyriaa jumped to her side, checking her pulse. A faint heartbeat was found in her lifeless body. *** A few hours later, Will was still in the kitchen, surrounded with tall, built men that took away Mary and were now asking him a endless amount of questions. "What happened, son?" "Well... i... forgot my english book in my room so I came home. And the front door was locked to naturally i went to the back door and Mary was..." Will trailed off, not wanting to face the reality. He focused his attention on the men with gloves scouring ever inch of his kitchen. The tall man put his hand on Will's back, making Will's body tense up and focus on him. "Mary was what?" "She was making a sandwich... but I could...." Will wanted to say that he could see that he had never seen before, making him and Kyriaa not sure what it was, but he thought that too bizarre to say. "...but when I got to the glass door, after a couple of moments of knocking, trying to warn her..." "and then..." the man removed his hand from Will's back, getting impatient with what the man thought was dramatic pauses. Will's mouth opened and said some words, too quiet to hear. "Sorry?" "...They... took her..." "Who's they? What did they take?" "They are Specters. They took her soul." *** Lyra sat on her bed cross legged after her dinner with the alethiometer in her right palm. "What are you trying to say?!" she shook it desperately. The arrows started whirling around and Lyra was pulled into the deep trance that she had not yet been for the longest time. She spoke to the alethiometer. It was trying to urgently tell her something. Another door has been opened. ** 


	5. Houdini

disclaimer: don't own it, just write it R/R EVERYONE! On with the show The strange man asked Will to repeat what he just said. "Specters. They take your soul away." The man looked deeply confused by Will's conclusion, and Will was well aware. He didn't feel he should tell this man anymore. He was also about to collapse from his heart pumping so fast. If the man found out what Will was apart of, if Will continued speaking what could easily be translated as "crazy talk", he would get shut up in a hospital. Will couldn't be cornered, not now. He had to find out what happened.  
Will's mind was turning a million miles a minute with thoughts and possible conclusions as to as why this had happened. The fact that he felt his stomach was going to empty onto the linoleum beneath him from the loss of Mary didn't help either. He was so caught up in all these emotions that he didn't notice the man he was talking with calling over another man.  
Will snapped awake when he heard the two whispering. "Boy... delusional... nonsense about something... specters he says...take away to..." So they thought he was crazy after all, Will thought, how little they know. They are going to take me away... never, never. The other man tapped on Will's shoulder. "Excuse me, young man. Could you please let me escort you to the car so that we can go find that you are feeling ok?" "I'm fine." Will snapped. "Well, we are just taking precautions." Will thought for a moment. They weren't going to just let him leave the scene of the crime. They could very well think that he did it. "Alright, I just need to go to the washroom first." "No problem." The man mumbled, obviously annoyed he was being so slow about it.  
Will walked down the hallway, out of the sight of the men. Instead of turning left into the washroom, he turned right into his bedroom. He ran to reach under his bed, grabbed the shard of the knife, a picture of Mary and quietly opened the window. This is too easy he thought. With that he took a last look around his bedroom, sure he would never see it again, and slipped out the window. 


End file.
